THERE’S ‘SHOOT-’EM UPS’ and there’s ‘shoot-’em ups’! Some are ultra realistic, while others are just good fun. Total Overdose is definitely the latter. Take a dash of Serious Sam, add some Max Payne, take on a Mexican drug cartel and you’re cooking with gas. Nachos anyone?

You play Ramiro Cruz, who heads to Mexico to find out who wasted his dad. Right, that’s the story – now let’s kill everyone and everything. As an over-the-top kill-fest, Total Overdose comes complete with tons of insane weapons and Bullet Time (a la Max Payne).

With Bullet Time, Ramiro can use slow-mo acrobatics to cap baddies. He can run, jump, roll and even spin to take out whoever’s annoyed him. His coolest move involves running at a wall sideways, doing a cartwheel flip in mid-air (that’s right, just like in The Matrix) and performing some very cool headshots. Nice.

Total Overdose rewards shooting sprees with a meter that starts once you snot your first baddie. Ice another and it’s topped up. Keep this up and you get power-ups that can be used later in sticky situations. If guns and fancy moves don’t smoke your tyres, there are also vehicles that can be used to deal to both people and other targets.

Total Overdose may not possess the sophistication of Half-Life 2, but it more than makes up for it with some insanely fun shooter mayhem. It’s fast and is a great way to end a stressful day at the office. If you liked Serious Sam, you’ll love Total Overdose.

Platform: Platform: PC/PS2/XBOX

By Pat Pilcher

Rating: 4/5

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